Law of the United Kingdom
The
In fulfilment of its former EU treaty obligations,
Legal jurisdictions
There are three distinct legal jurisdictions in the United Kingdom:
Unlike the other three, Welsh law is not a separate legal system per se, merely the primary and secondary legislation generated by the
The UK does not have a single legal system because it was created by the political union of previously independent countries. Article 19 of the
Each legal system defaults to its jurisdiction, each of whose courts further that law through jurisprudence. Choice of which jurisdiction's law to use is possible in private law: for example, a company in Edinburgh, Scotland and a company in Belfast, Northern Ireland are free to contract using English law. This is not so in public law (for example, criminal law), where there are set rules of procedure in each jurisdiction.
Structure and history
Although Scotland and Northern Ireland form part of the United Kingdom and share Westminster as a primary legislature, they have separate legal systems. (Even though Scotland became part of the UK over 300 years ago,
"Great Britain" means England, Wales, Scotland, their adjacent territorial waters and the islands of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides and, by virtue of the Island of Rockall Act 1972, Rockall. "United Kingdom" means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and their adjacent territorial waters, but not the Isle of Man, nor the Channel Islands, whose independent status was discussed in Rover International Ltd. v Canon Film Sales Ltd. (1987)[9] and Chloride Industrial Batteries Ltd. v F. & W. Freight Ltd. (1989).[10] "British Islands" – but not "British Isles" – means the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The first schedule of the Interpretation Act 1978, defines the following terms: "British Islands", "England", and "United Kingdom". The use of the term "British Isles" is virtually obsolete in statutes and, when it does appear, it is taken to be synonymous with "British Islands". For interpretation purposes, England includes a number of specified elements:
- Dicey & Morrissay (at p28) "It seems desirable to adhere to Dicey's (the original) definition for reasons of convenience and especially of brevity. It would be cumbersome to have to add "or Wales" after "England" and "or Welsh" after "English" every time those words are used."
- the "adjacent islands" of the Isle of Wight and Anglesey are a part of England and Wales by custom, while Harman v Bolt (1931)[11] expressly confirms that Lundy is a part of England.
- the "adjacent territorial waters" by virtue of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act 1878 and the Continental Shelf Act 1964 as amended by the Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982.
England and Wales
English and Welsh law (or just English law) refers to the
There has been no major
The
On appeal, a court may overrule the decisions of its inferior courts, such as county courts (civil) and magistrates' courts (criminal). The High Court may also quash on
After the
Wales
Welsh law is the primary and secondary legislation generated by the Senedd, using the devolved authority granted in the Government of Wales Act 2006, amended substantially by Wales Act 2014 and Wales Act 2017, and in effect since May 2007. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of Senedd Cymru.
As there is no criminal law within contemporary Welsh law, Wales is not generally considered a fourth jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. This is because the judiciary and the courts follow England and Wales law, which is made by the
A commission set up in 2017 by the
There have been multiple calls from both academics and politicians however for a
Northern Ireland
The law of Northern Ireland is a common law system. It is administered by the courts of Northern Ireland, with ultimate appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in both civil and criminal matters. The law of Northern Ireland is closely similar to English law, the rules of common law having been imported into the Kingdom of Ireland under English rule. However, there are important differences.
The sources of the law of Northern Ireland are Irish common law, and statute law. Of the latter, statutes of the Parliaments of Ireland, of the United Kingdom and of Northern Ireland are in force, and latterly statutes of the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. The courts of Northern Ireland are headed by the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland, consisting of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, the Northern Ireland High Court of Justice and the Northern Ireland Crown Court.
Below that are county courts and magistrates' courts. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction and often has persuasive effect in its other jurisdictions.
Scotland
Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in
Since the formation of the
Under the
The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases,[17] and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases.[18] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law, with leave to appeal from the Court of Session not required as a general rule.[19] However, unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court has no role as the highest court of appeal for Scottish criminal cases: this is forbidden by Article XIX of the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England.[20]
In very rare circumstances, the High Court of Justiciary can create new criminal offences without reference to Parliament, using its declaratory power to do so.
The
Retained EU law
Retained EU law (REUL) is a category of law in the United Kingdom created at the end of the transition period following the UK's withdrawal from the EU. REUL includes EU legislation which was "cut and pasted" into domestic law, along with certain domestic laws whose role was to implement EU regulations and directives. The objective of REUL is to maintain "legislative continuity".[23]
Courts and tribunals
The
In
In Scotland, the chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. Sheriff courts, as they deal with both criminal and civil caseloads, have no equivalent outside Scotland.
Certain tribunals for administrative law cases have UK-wide jurisdiction, notably those dealing with immigration—the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and Special Immigration Appeals Commission—military and national security, competition and intellectual property, and a few others. Similarly, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has jurisdiction throughout Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the British Overseas Territories, and the British Crown Dependencies.
United Kingdom legislatures
United Kingdom Parliament
The
The House of Lords includes two different types of members: The Lords Spiritual (the senior bishops of the Church of England) and the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage). Its members are not elected by the population at large.
The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the
Parliament evolved from the
Real power is vested in the House of Commons. The Sovereign acts only as a figurehead and the powers of the House of Lords are greatly limited. The parliament retains some law-making powers for some jurisdictions outside of the United Kingdom proper.
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly (
The latest incarnation of the Assembly was established under the
The Assembly is a
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament (
73 MSPs represent individual geographical
The original Parliament of Scotland (or "Estates of Scotland") was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland and existed from the early thirteenth century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.[31] As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England, to form the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London.[31]
Senedd
Since 2007, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru), previously known as the 'National Assembly for Wales', has been invested with legislative powers. It is situated in Cardiff. The Senedd, first elected in 1999, is a democratically elected body of 60 members who are known as Members of the Senedd or MSs. Members are elected for five-year terms under the Additional Member System of proportional representation. 40 MSs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality voting system ("first past the post"). 20 are returned from five additional member regions. Each region elects four MSs.
Related legal systems
After centuries of settlement and conquest, the United Kingdom has legal relationships to many territories outside its borders. These include sovereign states that do and do not share a monarch and judicial institutions with the UK, and dependencies where the UK government, parliament, and crown do retain some power.
Independent sovereign states with British legal history
Most
. The colonies and possessions were created and separated from the UK under a wide variety of circumstances, resulting in a spectrum of influence of British law in domestic law.At the strongly influenced end of the spectrum, for example, is the
Over time, it was modified by the
Some countries were granted independence by an act of the UK parliament (for example, the Statute of Westminster 1931) and have likewise diverged from UK law either under or after British rule. An example at the other end of the spectrum, despite occasional control for geopolitical reasons, British law had little impact on the law of Afghanistan.
Independent sovereign states with shared institutions
By special agreement, the UK-based
Commonwealth realms
Commonwealth realms, for example Australia, are former colonies that are now sovereign states fully independent of the UK parliament. However, they share other legal institutions with the UK, to varying degrees.
Crimes in Commonwealth realms are prosecuted in the name of the crown, and the crown remains the notional arbiter of disputes. In some realms appeals may be directed to the monarch as a last resort. Adjudication of these appeals is delegated to Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which draws judges from the UK and across the Commonwealth. In other realms, a domestic court has been made the highest court of appeal. See Judicial Committee of the Privy Council § Overseas jurisdiction for full list.
The "Imperial" Privy Council based in England advises the shared monarch on the use of
- Federal Executive Council (Australia)
- King's Privy Council for Canada
- Executive Council of New Zealand
Similar to other former colonies, Commonwealth realms also share a common legal history with the UK. For example, Canada underwent a long period of patriation of its constitution, beginning with the
Crown Dependencies
The
Each jurisdiction has a locally elected parliament with broad but not unlimited autonomy. The British monarchy retains responsibility for defence, citizenship law, and foreign affairs of the dependencies, and has delegated these responsibilities to the UK government and Parliament. The UK parliament generally acts in consultation or gains the consent of the local government when passing laws that have effect in the dependencies.
Residents of the dependencies do not have representation in the UK Parliament. UK law does not apply to the dependencies unless explicitly stated, and such laws are almost always executed by the monarch in the form of an Order in Council. Whether the UK Parliament retains the power to pass laws against the will of the local governments is disputed,[citation needed] and was tested with the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 (c. 41).[citation needed]
Legal cases may be appealed to the
British Overseas Territories
Though not considered internal to the boundaries of United Kingdom, the UK maintains control over British Overseas Territories. Unlike Commonwealth realms, BOTs fall within the Monarchy of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the court of final appeal. Three of the BOT are uninhabited, and Akrotiri and Dhekelia is military property; in these places, the UK government rules directly and on all matters.
The inhabited British Overseas Territories do not have representation in the UK parliament, and are thus on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories. Gibraltar, prior to Brexit, was the only BOT which was a part of the European Union, and residents voted for a representative in the European Parliament in the South West England district. Prior to Brexit all citizens of British Overseas Territories were EU citizens, even though European Union law only applied in Gibraltar and the United Kingdom proper.
The inhabited territories each have their own legal system, based largely on English common law, with autonomy varying considerably with the size of the population. For example, Bermuda, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands are autonomously governed by their locally elected parliaments, with the UK responsible only for defence and foreign affairs and granting limited autonomy to local governments to have relations with other countries and international organizations. On the sparsely populated Pitcairn Islands, the representative of the UK government has nearly unlimited powers.
Citizenship and nationality law is governed by the UK parliament. Immigration is controlled by local governments. The UK parliament retains the ultimate legislative power, and ensures good governance.
See also
- Age of consent reform in the United Kingdom
- British nationality law
- British labour law
- Constitution of the United Kingdom
- Constitutional reform in the United Kingdom
- Copyright law of the United Kingdom
- Electoral reform in the United Kingdom
- Legal education in the United Kingdom
- List of legislation in the United Kingdom
- Software patents under United Kingdom patent law
- United Kingdom company law
- UK commercial law
- UK competition law
- United Kingdom trade mark law
References
- ^ "Two jurisdictions: a shared inheritance". GOV.UK. UK Government. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- direct.gov.uk, accessed 12 March 2007
- ^ "Written Statement: Update on the development of the justice system and the legal sector in Wales (30 September 2021)". GOV.WALES. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Plaid Cymru call for devolution of justice to Wales - 'we can't be treated as an appendage to England'". Nation.Cymru. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Devolution a 'necessary step' towards a better Welsh criminal justice system, academics argue". Cardiff University. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- British Colonies such as the Falkland Islands. Moreover, the other parts of the United Kingdom – Scotland and Northern Ireland – are foreign countries for present purposes, as are the other British Islands, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey." Conflict of Laws, J. G. Collier, Fellow of Trinity Hall and lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge
- ^ "The Treaty (act) of the Union of Parliament 1706". Scottish History Online. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL [1932] UKHL
- ^ (1987) 1 WLR 1597
- ^ (1989) 1 WLR 823
- ^ (1931) 47 TLR 219
- OCLC 1006335991.
- ^ ; accessed 22 May 2006.
- ^ "The Commission on Justice in Wales (Thomas Commission) | Centre on Constitutional Change l Researching the issues. Informing the debate". www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
- ^ "Written Statement: Update on the development of the justice system and the legal sector in Wales (30 September 2021)". GOV.WALES. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ "MSPs pass Brexit bill to 'keep pace' with EU laws". BBC News. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ "Court of Session – Introduction". Scottish Courts. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ "High Court of Justiciary – Introduction". Scottish Courts. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ "House of Lords – Practice Directions on Permission to Appeal". UK Parliament. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
- ^ a b "Introduction". Scottish Courts. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ "The case for keeping 'not proven' verdict". Times Online. London. 20 March 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- Scottish Executive. Archived from the originalon 7 September 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
- ^ Cabinet Office, Retained EU law dashboard, published 22 June 2022, accessed 16 September 2022
- ^ UK Supreme Court judges sworn in BBC News, 1 October 2009
- ^ "Constitutional reform: A Supreme Court for the United Kingdom" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2007. (252 KB), Department for Constitutional Affairs. Retrieved on 22 May 2006
- ^ "Queen in Parliament". The Monarchy Today: Queen and State. The British Monarchy. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2008.
The phrase 'Crown in Parliament' is used to describe the British legislature, which consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
- ^ "Comhaontú idir Rialtas na hÉireann agus Rialtas Ríocht Aontaithe na Breataine Móire agus Thuaisceart Éireann ag Bunú Comhlachtaí Forfheidhmithe" (in Irish). Oireachtas. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
- ^ "Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch – Tha Boord" (in Scots). Ulster-Scots Agency. Archived from the original on 26 November 2006. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
- ^ "Scottish Parliament Word Bank". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 3 December 2005. Retrieved 14 November 2006.
- ^ a b "Scottish Parliament MSPs". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 14 November 2006.
- ^ a b "The First Scottish Parliament: the Middle Ages – 1707". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 14 November 2006.
- ^ "Marshall Decision Nova Scotia Legal System". www.chebucto.ns.ca. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ "Virtual Law Office: Royal Proclamation of 1763". www.bloorstreet.com. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
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